backcountry98
11-24-2020, 01:13 PM
It was in mid June when everyone gets the news that LEH results are out. This year I got lucky and drew an Eastern Region 3 Mountain Goat tag. This would be my first time chasing goats. I got the mountain hunting bug after an unsuccessful sheep hunt in 2016. I have been hunting mule deer up in the high country but I knew I was in for a tough go. Typically all goat hunts are hard.
I began looking into previous forums, Google earth reading and watching videos of sex identification and getting ahold of the local biologist for recent info on those goats. I had a few friends in mind that might be interested in joining a scouting trip and the hunt so I put the word out, unfortunately, no luck. They were all interested but work would be conflicting. Come end of July I was getting desperate, going solo on my first goat hunt was not exactly what I had in mind. I knew one friend who was interested in hunting and wasn’t working due to the virus. So I figured what the heck maybe he will join. (This I found out later was a stretch. Not everyone wants to be chasin’ goats on their first time out.) I called him and specifically asked “would you be interested in doing something really hard but kind of fun?” and he said sure. So the planning began
that evening.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG-1650.jpg
The morning of August 12th came around and we were on the road early to scout out this spot I had looked over dozens of times online and had enough gear and food for 4 days. On our way up an access road we spoke to a local FSR road builder and he gave us a couple pointers before getting in there. Wasn't too far in when we came to our first glassing spot. It didn’t take long before picking out our first goat. He was by himself and well over a mile away and my cheep Tasco spotting scope didn’t give us a great view but either way it was still exciting.
We put away the glass and continued the climb. I wanted to get to a certain point by that evening. I decided instead of gaining an extra 800 vertical feet we could save the energy and side hill to the creek for about 1 mile and then proceed up the mountain from there. About half way across I realized this was a huge mistake. It took way longer to get across then expected and It looked okay at the start but most of it was no fall zone. To make it worse the vegetation was super lush and slippery. I made it very clear to my friend that its important to have a firmly planted foot with both trekking poles in the ground before taking the next step. He did have one pretty good fall but thankfully was in a spot that wasn’t going to kill him. It was amazing how fast he picked up speed as I stood there helplessly until he dug in his hands and feet to come to a stop. Shaken up with a decently deep cut on the elbow and half a fingernail gone but still wanted to proceed. It was a tough grunt to the top. My poor choice of route had our energy drained and we had to camp just below the summit. (North side past the summit was the initial plan). I learned the hard way on that one. It should really never take 3.5 hours to go one mile.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG-1649.jpg
Tired and sore we went to bed early. Waking up around 6:30 the next morning to a loud wind like sound. Except the tent didn’t move at all. My friend said, “You think that’s an avalanche?” Frantically trying to get my mummy sleeping bag unzipped to open the tent. I stick my head out to see a chunk of snow rolling at the bottom of the draw... ...and then the whole thing came down. We were safe up on a bench above the draw and got to see this 30ft long 20 feet wide by 4 feet deep slab break loose and come down into the bottom of the draw. Impressive really. That was some good excitement and entertainment for the morning. Kind of cliche, but goes to show mountains don’t give a shit about you.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG-1645.jpg
We packed up camp and headed down the draw to search for a way up onto the ridge. We found a spot and hoisted the packs up with ropes, as it was too steep to keep them on. We glassed for a bit and re-found the billy from the day before. He was only 1100 yards away and got a decent look at him. Definitely a cool animal to watch do his thing, eat, bed, eat, bed.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG-1648.jpg
We re-set up camp and did another hike to the west ridge to do some more glassing; besides looking over some incredibly beautiful country we found no four-legged critters beside the screaming hoary marmots and pikas. Either way BC has some beautiful yet dangerous places to check out, especially once you leave the vehicle and strap on the boots and pack.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG-1646.jpg
Due to the limited area that we could go, the next morning we decided we would take it easy and slowly make our way out. At our final glassing spot we re-found the lone billy but that was it.
I began looking into previous forums, Google earth reading and watching videos of sex identification and getting ahold of the local biologist for recent info on those goats. I had a few friends in mind that might be interested in joining a scouting trip and the hunt so I put the word out, unfortunately, no luck. They were all interested but work would be conflicting. Come end of July I was getting desperate, going solo on my first goat hunt was not exactly what I had in mind. I knew one friend who was interested in hunting and wasn’t working due to the virus. So I figured what the heck maybe he will join. (This I found out later was a stretch. Not everyone wants to be chasin’ goats on their first time out.) I called him and specifically asked “would you be interested in doing something really hard but kind of fun?” and he said sure. So the planning began
that evening.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG-1650.jpg
The morning of August 12th came around and we were on the road early to scout out this spot I had looked over dozens of times online and had enough gear and food for 4 days. On our way up an access road we spoke to a local FSR road builder and he gave us a couple pointers before getting in there. Wasn't too far in when we came to our first glassing spot. It didn’t take long before picking out our first goat. He was by himself and well over a mile away and my cheep Tasco spotting scope didn’t give us a great view but either way it was still exciting.
We put away the glass and continued the climb. I wanted to get to a certain point by that evening. I decided instead of gaining an extra 800 vertical feet we could save the energy and side hill to the creek for about 1 mile and then proceed up the mountain from there. About half way across I realized this was a huge mistake. It took way longer to get across then expected and It looked okay at the start but most of it was no fall zone. To make it worse the vegetation was super lush and slippery. I made it very clear to my friend that its important to have a firmly planted foot with both trekking poles in the ground before taking the next step. He did have one pretty good fall but thankfully was in a spot that wasn’t going to kill him. It was amazing how fast he picked up speed as I stood there helplessly until he dug in his hands and feet to come to a stop. Shaken up with a decently deep cut on the elbow and half a fingernail gone but still wanted to proceed. It was a tough grunt to the top. My poor choice of route had our energy drained and we had to camp just below the summit. (North side past the summit was the initial plan). I learned the hard way on that one. It should really never take 3.5 hours to go one mile.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG-1649.jpg
Tired and sore we went to bed early. Waking up around 6:30 the next morning to a loud wind like sound. Except the tent didn’t move at all. My friend said, “You think that’s an avalanche?” Frantically trying to get my mummy sleeping bag unzipped to open the tent. I stick my head out to see a chunk of snow rolling at the bottom of the draw... ...and then the whole thing came down. We were safe up on a bench above the draw and got to see this 30ft long 20 feet wide by 4 feet deep slab break loose and come down into the bottom of the draw. Impressive really. That was some good excitement and entertainment for the morning. Kind of cliche, but goes to show mountains don’t give a shit about you.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG-1645.jpg
We packed up camp and headed down the draw to search for a way up onto the ridge. We found a spot and hoisted the packs up with ropes, as it was too steep to keep them on. We glassed for a bit and re-found the billy from the day before. He was only 1100 yards away and got a decent look at him. Definitely a cool animal to watch do his thing, eat, bed, eat, bed.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG-1648.jpg
We re-set up camp and did another hike to the west ridge to do some more glassing; besides looking over some incredibly beautiful country we found no four-legged critters beside the screaming hoary marmots and pikas. Either way BC has some beautiful yet dangerous places to check out, especially once you leave the vehicle and strap on the boots and pack.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG-1646.jpg
Due to the limited area that we could go, the next morning we decided we would take it easy and slowly make our way out. At our final glassing spot we re-found the lone billy but that was it.